ON A LIGHTER NOTE!

On Saturday at 10:20 pm my grandfather passed away. He was a man of great courage and determination and fought till the very end. I am dedicating my IM Fl to him since exercise was one of the most important things to him. I spent a huge part of my childhood with him and will always have the outermost fond memories with him. I will try to remember him happy and healthy, and not suffering in the hospital.

It has been a rough couple of weeks, but everything semms to be calming down. My grandfather went home with my aunt yesterday, training is picking up and x-mas shopping is done! Las week we had brunch with all the peeps, it was great to see everyone before the season starts. I very much look forward to next season, I am starting it off by running a 5k on New Years Day. i hope it starts a liitle later in the day. :)

Power of friendship

Thank you all for your messages, texts and emails. At times like these I realize how important family and friends are.

No race?

Well, it's been 1 week since my last race and I am supposed to take a few weeks off. Have I? Heavens NO! I know i need to give my body a break, but I feel so lazy. My eating has been horrible too, I am craving junk and indulging! Ran on tuesday and felt pretty good, so of course I found myself googling the next marathon, I really want to go sub 4. I was 3 minutes off. I will try to rest, but it seems I just can not go EASY!!!

My first marathon

One down, many more to go! I found my favorite running distance-26.2 miles! It was not by any means easy, but I enjoyed it! Woke up early, attended to usual business, don't be jealous, Frick, and got on my way to Turner Field. This was my first race driving to by myself, so I rocked out loudly to some tunes, and followed the cars that looked like they knew where they were going to and surprise, I made it! And of course right behind me were the great Suobs. We chatted for a while, and with Dave too, what are friends for? I called him at 6AM, he was awake! After many trips to the porter-johns, it was time to start. The first 18 miles went awesome. Of course seeing Keith at mile 2 and my parents at mile 12 and 14 was great! After mile 18 my quads got a little tight, but nothing unbearable. Mile 23, I saw Dave and I knew I was on my way to finishing my first marathon. I teared up when I ran by Crawford Long Hospital, that is where my grandfather is. What a great experience! The weather was gorgeous. Many of times I found myself running completely alone, there were only 730 finishers. Not once did I feel lonely, because I knew that my peeps were at the finish and on the course. I was proud to share this very important experience with them I have great friends.
Sue and Bob! Thank you so much for training with me for this event! Hope we can train for many more together, good luck to both of you on the 50 miler, I know you two will do awesome!
Thank you for the care package as well, it was ALL put to a good use. Dani, thank you for the card. All of you who came out and who had me in their thoughts, thank you!
Steven, Olga, Phil and Laurie- job well done!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SPANX!!!! I WISH YOU ALL THE HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN THIS WORLD! YOUR FRIENSHIP AND SUPPORT MEAN A WHOLE LOT.